1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nozzle surface wiping apparatus and a droplet ejection apparatus, and more particularly to a nozzle surface wiping apparatus which wipes a nozzle surface by pressing a traveling band-shaped wiping web against the nozzle surface by a pressing roller, and to a droplet ejection apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a recording operation is carried out continuously in an inkjet recording apparatus, ink adheres and accumulates in the vicinity of the nozzles and blockages occur in the nozzles. The nozzle blockages greatly decrease the print quality and therefore in the inkjet recording apparatus, cleaning of the nozzle surface of the head is carried out periodically.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-195908 discloses an apparatus for wiping a nozzle surface of a head, in which a band-shaped wiping web (wiping sheet) which travels between a pair of reels is pressed against a nozzle surface by a pressing roller, thereby wiping and cleaning the nozzle surface. In this apparatus, by driving a take-up side reel with a motor and driving the pressing roller to rotate by another motor, the wiping web is caused to travel from a pay-out side reel to the take-up side reel, and in order to keep the speed of the wiping web uniform, the speed of the wiping web is measured by a speed measuring device and the driving of the two motors is controlled.
However, the apparatus in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-195908 must control the driving of the two motors while measuring the speed of the wiping web, and therefore has a drawback in that control is complicated. Moreover, since a mechanism must be installed to measure the speed of the two motors and the wiping web, then there is a drawback in that compactification is difficult. Furthermore, if there is a fault in the speed measuring device or if erroneous measurement occurs due to soiling by ink, or the like, then slackness, or the like, occurs, and there is a drawback in that the wiping web cannot travel stably.